After Lin Yun and Gong Ming left, Gu Feng and Gu Teng continued to kneel on the ground. Even after Lin Yun had gone far away, they didn’t dare to get back up. They never imagined that this would be their outcome when they came so aggressively to make Lin Yun beg for mercy.
Not only them, but the other inner disciples were in shock too. Worst of all, many core disciples had witnessed Gu Feng kneel, which was even more shocking. They had been attracted here by the Infernal Flower’s radiance, but they didn’t expect to see such a good show.
It probably wouldn’t take long for Lin Yun’s name to spread throughout the Heavenly Province Academy. At that time, everyone would know about Flower Burial.
Beneath the Spiritwood Peak, Lin Yun handed the token Mo Ling gave him to Gong Ming, “Brother Gong, I’m afraid you can’t go to the secret realm with your injuries. Take this token and exchange it for some pellets.”
Gong Ming’s hands were trembling as he took the token. He asked, “Is this really alright?”
“Don’t worry about it. You could’ve left, but you stayed. Take the token and get some resources for yourself. Mo Ling loaned it to me for a day and she said that I can do anything I want with it,” smiled Lin Yun. He had a good impression of Gong Ming.
Gong Ming was the first friend he had since coming to the Spiritwood Peak. They were both guest deacons too. Furthermore, Gong Ming was injured because of him, so he didn’t think that there was any problem in using the token Mo Ling gave him.
Gong Ming accepted the token and smiled, “Then I won’t refuse this offer. Core disciples can exchange some decent third grade pellets. I’ll return the token tomorrow. But Brother Lin, the Infernal Flower will probably attract a lot of people’s attention. So be careful.”
Lin Yun wasn’t worried. He could sense the gazes on him when he fought Gu Feng. They probably came because of the Infernal Flower, but after seeing Gu Feng’s outcome, they probably had to reevaluate themselves.
“I know,” responded Lin Yun.
“Then I’ll see you tomorrow,” said Gong Ming.
“Okay.” After separating with Gong Ming, Lin Yun returned to his courtyard. He wasn’t surprised that he could defeat Gu Feng. After all, it would be a humiliation to the Iris Sword Saint if he couldn’t defeat a core disciple after his cultivation technique reached the pinnacle ninth stage.
Lin Yun fell into deep thought as he recalled the ancient voice that he heard back in the fourth layer. It sounded as though the Iris Sword Saint had crossed the passage of time and left those words to him.
Iris Sword Array—Absolute Unrivaled; Primal Origin, Praise the Phoenix!
Lin Yun could sense a bizarre feeling rising in his heart when he muttered them. At the same time, the Iris Flower also emitted a silver glow as ancient sword intent began to spread out. Simultaneously, Lin Yun was also basking in a silvery radiance as his hair fluttered in the wind.
When the Iris Flower within the violet palace bloomed, the petals began to transform into silver swords. It didn’t take long for all the eighty-one petals to disappear and be replaced with an ancient sword array. That was naturally the Iris Sword Array—Absolute Unrivaled.
Lin Yun could sense his aura rising ferociously when the sword array appeared. He could even reach the pinnacle of the Yin stage, so not even Mo Ling couldn’t underestimate him now.
“If I bring out this sword array, even a pinnacle Yin stage will be heavily injured if they’re within three hundred meters of me. If they’re unlucky, the sword array can even tear them apart.” Lin Yun speculated about the sword array’s power as he examined it.
If he wanted, three hundred meters around him could be turned into a forbidden zone. Aside from that, he could also control the eighty-one swords as he wishes. This was the Iris Sword Array—Absolute Unrivaled. This meant that those with the same cultivation didn’t stand a chance; the array was unrivaled.
But what did eighty-one circulations, praise the phoenix mean? It was recorded in the sword array that he could summon an ancient Violet Ice Sparrow when the Iris Sword Sutra reaches the pinnacle ninth stage. However, he had already formed the array, so where was the sparrow?
Lin Yun’s eyes suddenly lit up. Did ‘primal origin’ mean to go back to the basics? Like how he discovered Dazzling Moment. Did it mean that the Iris Sword Array could also circulate backwards?
The moment such thoughts appeared in Lin Yun’s mind, he immediately wanted to give it a try. However, he knew that he would injure himself if he was careless. For example, with Dazzling Moment, if he used it before he was strong enough, all his origin energy would be exhausted.
In the end, Lin Yun still decided to give it a try. There might be danger if he gave it a try, but he would never figure out the secrets if he didn’t even dare to try. After making up his mind, Lin Yun immediately started forming seals with his hands.
With this attempt, all the hovering swords froze as if time had stopped. They were like a wall in front of Lin Yun as he threw up a mouthful of blood.
“Damn it…” Lin Yun never expected to run into a wall right at the start. But it wasn’t his style to give up so easily. His eyes flashed with ruthlessness. He started to form the seals again and his origin energy rippled within his body. Every single moment, he was enduring great pain. But just when he was about to cry in despair, a brilliant sword ray rang out.
The eighty-one swords also moved by an inch. Although it was only an inch, a violent sword intent began to leak out. At the same time, Lin Yun’s sword intent began to accumulate at an unbelievable speed.
When the sword array made a full reverse circulation, the accumulated sword intent began to change and gathered into a towering silvery beam that shot into the horizon. Then, Lin Yun’s courtyard began to tremble violently as the third grade spiritual array showed signs of being broken by the silver pillar.
At the same time, the sword array that was initially three hundred meters grew to six hundred meters. The eighty-one swords also increased to a hundred and sixty-two swords. With that, Lin Yun was surrounded by silver swords.
But the terrifying aura only lasted briefly before it disappeared. Lin Yun was kneeling on the ground as beads of sweat covered his forehead. The array left him weak, but a smile filled his face. He knew that he had succeeded.
Although he only completed one circulation, he was confident that he could complete nine circulations in the future.
Closing his eyes, Lin Yun sat down and looked at the Iris Flower in his violet palace. The Iris Flower was dim and shriveled. The exhaustion was shocking, but Lin Yun was confident of even intimidating a lesser Yang stage with the array.
Lin Yun opened his eyes a long time later. He had more or less recovered from his exhaustion. Now that the Iris Sword Sutra reached the ninth stage, his recovery was a lot faster than before. When Lin Yun opened his right hand, the Infernal Flower appeared on his palm. It looked like a flower made of flames and was a lot different from other treasures he had seen.
But Lin Yun soon discovered something unusual about the Infernal Flower. It might seem like a flame, but it was actually a bizarre liquid that contained pure fire energy. After probing it slightly, Lin Yun’s expression became grave.
If the flower blew up right now, he would immediately be reduced to ashes. He knew that there was no way he could refine it right now. He could only try it again when he reached the pinnacle Yin stage. Aside from the explosive power, there was also something bizarre about this flower that he couldn’t see through.
“I’ll look at it again when I’m strong enough. It’s definitely not simple.” Lin Yun put the Infernal Flower away and then took out a painting. When he opened it up, there was a person who held a sword with his left hand and a rose in his right. There was also an enormous white tiger closing its eyes as it smelled the flower.
Where do the flowers bloom!
When the rose bloomed, the azure-clothed man began to perform a sword technique for Lin Yun. But aside from the technique he already knew, everything else was blurry in his eyes. Lin Yun had been trying to look at the painting for the past ten days.
Along with the rise of his attainments in spiritual runes, Lin Yun could see some of the details more clearly. Although the fog had dissipated quite a bit, Lin Yun still couldn’t see through it completely.
“I’m afraid that I have to become a third grade spiritualist. As for the demons Elder Hong talked about, that’s probably something that I’ll see when I’m strong enough…” Lin Yun stored the painting with a grave expression. There was a sword technique in the painting and he knew that the inheritance was a lot better than anything the Shattered Sword Pavilion could give him. Granted, he had to comprehend it in order to benefit.
This was why he said that he wouldn’t regret refusing Liu Chenyi’s offer. At the very least, he didn’t regret his choice to go to the fourth layer. So he believed that he wouldn’t regret the painting either.